


Signs of Life

by Wei (wei_jiangling)



Category: Kamen Rider OOO
Genre: Bad End AU, Community: hc_bingo, F/M, Prompt: disappearing, What if Eiji is a Greeed, everything about this hurts, sort of spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-10
Updated: 2016-12-10
Packaged: 2018-09-07 13:23:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,381
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8802499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wei_jiangling/pseuds/Wei
Summary: He was human once.





	

He was human once. 

It's a desperate thought, one he tries hard to hold onto. To remember. When colors were vivid, sounds clear, and food tasted like something aside from flavorless rubber. When all he wanted was for everyone else to be safe and happy. Eiji spends an inordinate amount of time now writing down those memories, and rereading his own words. Remembering who and what he used to be. 

Even then, so much has gotten lost; meanings distorted, feelings forgotten. Sometimes the words are foreign, even though he's the one who wrote them. Sometimes he wonders why he even tries at all.

The only color that stands out to him now is purple, the shade of the medals with their emblems of creatures that no longer exist (why should he exist, he wonders, when they don't?) and today the writing in his journal muses on whether that's why Ankh was always so attached to the color red. 

Ankh, the bird Greeed who left him with half a medal as a souvenir. Was it broken by Dr. Maki, or by his own hand? He's never been sure, though at least the guilt of the latter is dulled by this existence he now leads, along with everything else. All he knows is that that broken medal is a part of him now, and the shock of watching it absorb into him the way he'd always seen medals disappear into Ankh and the others is one that's still as fresh as the day it happened. And perhaps it's more than just a souvenir, after all.

The purple medals, more a part of him now than he ever expected them to be, still thrive on nothingness. Even as a Greeed, that's all there is. But Ankh was different. Ankh always wanted something. Ankh desperately wanted to live. 

Sometimes Eiji thinks that half medal, just a broken remnant of something now long gone, is the only thing that keeps him alive.

\---

"How do you like it?" Hina twirls on a street corner, showing off the dress she's designed for herself. For him; the inspiration. It's designed with the memory of all the colors and patterns he used to wear and doesn't now. He's never said it to her, but she understands the reasons, why it's easier now for him to dress in black, white, and purple. Why the brightness of that dress will be lost on the one person she'd want to appreciate it. 

She asks, knowing he can't see any of the rainbow in the fabrics, and he replies pretending he doesn't realise she knows. Both of their smiles are fake. 

"It's beautiful. Is that your newest design?"

She nods. "You inspired it, actually." 

"I did?" The look that accompanies the question turns Hina's smile genuine. For a second, it's the Eiji she always knew. Confused, a little touched, and mostly confused. He's never expected to be the inspiration for anything, even if he's someone who should inspire the world. 

"Don't seem so surprised," she replies, though she doesn't offer an explanation. The truth is too sad, so she'll keep it to herself. Shouldering things that way is something she learned from him, after all. It's only fair.

She doesn't give him time to ask, either, grabbing his hand and tugging him gently down the sidewalk with her. The time they get to spend together these days seems more and more infrequent, and she plans for both of them to enjoy it, as much as they can. 

\---

It's been a busy few days of Hina showing him around. Her fashion career takes her nearly as many places as his endless wandering, and this is a city that's new to her. She's made a point of showing him all the places she's found that she thinks he would like, and he can appreciate her excitement, even if he can't feel it, himself. She's avoided restaurants, and he's grateful for the courtesy. 

Now, they sit on a bench in a park, and conversation has died down in favor of just watching the scenery. It's something that Eiji does more passively than he used to. There's little beauty to see in the sky or trees or flowers. The people nearby are a bit more interesting, though only so much. A couple walking lovestruck along the path. Some children chasing butterflies. In the distance, a teenager being bullied by people who could easily be his schoolmates.

The last is a scene that should bother him, but he stays still, just watching. The Eiji who would have cared isn't here anymore, replaced by a pile of nihilistic medals. It doesn't matter because nothing does. One more person hurt. One step closer to oblivion.

It doesn't matter that the way he is now was a byproduct of saving humanity.

"Eiji-kun?" It's Hina's words that break him out of his thoughts, and for a moment the both of them look at each other confused, because he hadn't been present until just then, and all she noticed was him staring off to somewhere in the distance, not at what. It's a pained shout in that distance, if not as clear a sound as it once would have been, that really grounds him.

"Thank you," he says, and he sees the question in her eyes, but he's not going to explain it. It's enough that he says it from the depths of his heart. "I'll be right back." 

So he goes to stop a fight, because it's what he does. Because that's who he is. Because people, strangers, matter. They always have and always will.

He was human once. 

\---

It's not long before Eiji leaves again, grabbing the next train to who knows where. "You wanted me to keep traveling, didn't you?" he said, when she asked why he doesn't stay with her longer, and the phrasing isn't lost on her. She wanted. He won't say anything about himself. 

She suspects it's an excuse, either way. He's certain he's imposing, and she can't seem to convince him otherwise. He loved traveling once. That's what she'd like to see again. As it stands, she's not sure whether he loves anything, anymore.

As he's about to turn to leave, she can't stand just letting him go. She reaches up, hooks a hand behind his neck and pulls him closer. It's something she's never been bold enough to try, but now... 

She, at least, can feel all the warmth of his skin and the softness of his lips against hers. The way the color of his cheeks involuntarily changes. She can pay attention for both of them if she needs to. 

When she pulls away, she's greeted with a stunned, wide-eyed look.

"Hina...chan?"

"I'm here. If you need anything, just... remember. I'm here." It's all she can think to say. It's what she needs him to know.

It seems to take him a long moment to process that, and she's not sure whether it's because he's that surprised by her actions, that unsure about keeping that offer in mind, or if he's just lost track of reality so much that it doesn't make sense. But then he smiles, and she thinks there's at least some true happiness in it. 

"Okay."

He gets on the train, and she stands staring down the tracks long after it pulls away. Her hand reaches into her purse and grasps at a half of a medal she still keeps with her. Memories and motivation. Ankh is gone, and Eiji...

She refuses to lose both of them. She can't. She won't. She lives for those moments when Eiji looks like his normal self, and she'll keep finding ways to bring that out, as much as she can. One day she'll find a way to bring it back completely. She'll find a way to put an end to that constant struggle. She'll keep him from fading.

As far as she's concerned, he's human still. Or if not, then still a person who matters. Someone who deserves to exist. One day, she'll succeed in convincing him of that. If they succeeded in convincing Ankh that he was alive, at the end...

She glances down at the medal in her hand, then puts it back safe in the pocket of her purse. 

Someday. Somehow.

**Author's Note:**

> Notes:   
> For hc_bingo on the prompt "disappearing."
> 
> This was inspired by the song "Signs of Life" by Poets of the Fall, which has imagery in it that's so perfect for Eiji and Hina I couldn't get the thought out of my head. 
> 
> Ankh's presence in this fic was not planned and only showed up once I started writing. Somehow, I'm not surprised that even when I write a fic where he's permanently dead, he still manages to be part of the OT3.


End file.
